Welcome Bump!

So it turns out that knitting (and probably all that bouncing on the birthing ball too) is the best way to induce labour!

Just as I was getting into bed last night this morning at 1am I started getting some cramping, only quite mild but enough for me to fire up the contraction timer on my Sprout iPhone app. When, less than 10 minutes later I felt another twinge, slightly stronger now, I told Robin, though I said it might be nothing. He stayed quietly awake and it was a good job because on the third contraction I felt (and heard?!) a distinct 'POP', as if I'd been elbowed from within, and I knew my waters had gone. Thankfully I made it to the bathroom in time!

Unfortunately the waters weren't the clear or straw coloured fluid the NCT classes had led me to hope to expect. Instead there was a lot of meconium mixed in, so I also knew that my plan to be in the birthing suite, and specifically in the birth pool, had gone out of the window. More importantly I was worried that the little man was distressed before labour had even really started. I rang the Whittington and they told us to come straight in.
After a scramble for the last minute items for the hospital bag (again, I thought I'd be labouring at home for a while) we got into the Mini for the drive to the hospital and were there before 2am, the perfect time of day to beat London traffic apparently! I'd asked my mum to be there for the birth with Robin, so I rang Nottingham and left a message on my parent's answer machine. Of course, they rang back within two minutes. My dad has been ill, so I said given that, and the crazy hour, not to worry about driving to London and that I'd call and let them know what was happening. Afterall it might be another day before he'd show up.

When we arrived at the Whittington we went straight to the maternity entrance and found an unmanned desk and a locked door - always a great start! After 2 contraction's worth of bell ringing we left the 'quick' entrance and went the long way to try and find someone to let us in. We were eventually buzzed in but it still wasn't until a few minutes of wandering around the deserted and dimly lit labour ward that someone finally pointed us in the direction of triage.

We were shown to a curtained booth where the midwife on duty examined me. I was 1cm dilated but the amount of meconium meant we were deemed high risk so were admitted straight to the labour ward and put on constant monitoring. Bump's heart beat was thankfully strong and steady which was a huge relief and my ever stronger, ever closer contractions were progressing nicely.

I was introduced to my first midwife, whose name I sadly can't remember but who was lovely, as well as the doctor on duty. They gave me a lovely hospital gown and pulled out the ultrasound machine to check Bump's position and found he was back to back. His head was down and engaged but he was facing out, rather than in. This explained the back ache that had been building rapidly. They also fitted a cannula so they could get any medication into my bloodstream should anything go wrong. I was actually dreading having that done with my recent history with needles, but with everything else going on I barely noticed.

In what felt like no time at all, it had become too painful to lie on my back so back on the birthing ball I went. Due to a risk of infection now my waters had gone, I had to wait 4 hours to be examined again but the contractions were getting more and more intense. And by intense I mean bloody agony! Rob went to fetch the TENS machine I'd bought months ago but as soon as he went to put it together he realised the pads I had got to go with them were the wrong size. Typical!

I had been reluctant about trying Gas and Air as I knew it would make me sick but by now I really needed something for the pain. A few puffs later and I was disappointed. It didn't seem to do much except make my throat dry and my stomach queasy. The best thing about it was the plastic mouth piece as that gave me something to bite down on as the pain dialled up and up.

Thankfully at this point we had two visitors -my mum and dad. They had set off from Nottingham within 20 minutes of my phonecall! My dad came in to see how I was and then headed back to our house whilst mum pulled up a plastic chair to stay with Rob and me for the duration. I went back on the ball, but by this point my midwife had gone on her 4am 'lunch break' and two other midwives had come in to cover. Every time I rocked (bouncing at this point hurt too much!) one of the monitors on my stomach would slip down, and one of the midwives actually looked frustrated to the point where I was apologising!

With my midwife back it was finally time for an examination and I was now 6cm, well into established labour. The pain was excruciating and Robin tells me I was going more and more into myself. The gas and air was still doing nothing (though that didn't stop me gnawing on the mouthpiece!) and by now the only position my back would allow me to take was on the bed, on all fours hugging the raised top end. Frustratingly this meant my legs were constantly going numb. At one point I made the mistake on turning to onto my back between a contraction but then didn't turn over in time when it came. The pain was like a white heat running up my spine and I was flailing like a beached whale to try and turn round again!

That was when I asked for an epidural (in a very roundabout way) and despite expecting protests from my midwife (too many episodes of One Born Every Minute, I think), she said 'Yes, of course' and rang for the anesthetist, who appeared within half an hour. Another 30 minutes later and I was happily lying back in bed chatting to my mum and Robin. It's a miracle drug! I'm actually annoyed at myself for going so long without it! The needle itself didn't hurt much at all and I could still feel my legs and the contractions (though faintly, which is what I wanted). Best of all my back ache disappeared completely. The midwife told me to try and rest whilst I could, and I said the same to Robin and mum. They managed to catch a little sleep but looked so uncomfortable on the rubbish chairs.

It was now past 8am and the doctor was concerned with the progress of the contractions. My first midwife had finished her shift and a new one, Sandra, had taken over. They recommended that to further speed up contractions they should put me on a drip of Syntocinon (synthetic Oxytocin). Unfortunately within minutes of it hitting the blood stream, Bump's heart rate started to drop, gradually at first but soon quite severely. After it plummeted yet again my very softly spoken midwife leant over to me and said "I'm going to push the alarm now. When I do a lot of people are going to come running, but don't worry". Robin and Mum didn't hear a word of this so when she pressed the big red button and 30 seconds later about a dozen people charged in they got the fright of their lives!

The doctors immediately stopped the drip and asked permission to test Bump's oxygen levels. They were very reassuring and explained that they would carry out an internal and scratch the top of his head ('like a paper cut') to get a blood sample. Thanks to the epidural I didn't feel the internal at all, but a further rush of meconium when it was done worried them further. They explained that the test will be processed immediately and 5 minutes later we had the results back. Bump's blood oxygen levels were at an acceptable level but the plan was to get Bump out as soon as possible. They wanted to do this via natural labour, where possible, so asked permission to turn the drip back on and get me fully dilated. The doctor said he'd be back in 30 minutes to check progress.

Before the 30 minutes were up Bump's heartbeat was dropping so low the alarm was hit again and the doctors swarmed. The reason for the drop, they explained, was likely that the cord was around his neck. This was then tightening with each contraction as he was dropping into the cervix. They examined me and found I was 8cm dilated but it was agreed we couldn't wait any longer for me to dilate so the only option was to deliver him as soon as possible via emergency caesarean section. I had a lump in my throat as soon as they said the words but just swallowed it down - Robin and mum looked scared/nervous enough for all three of us!

It then all happened incredibly quickly from there! I signed a form and seconds later I was in the operating theatre (conveniently placed across the hall). As I was lifted onto the operating table Robin appeared in his scrubs and pulled up a stool next to me and away from the curtained-off 'business end' of the table. The staff was fantastic, reassuring us and making certain we knew what was happening. They all introduced themselves (there were about a dozen people in the room) and explained what they were doing and why and generally worked hard to remove the 'emergency' feel to the whole procedure.

The very chatty anaesthetist upped my epidural then tested how much I could feel by spraying me with ice water. He had to get to my shoulder blades before I felt the cold! As soon as he said the word, it was all go behind the curtain but he continued to talk to us and his distraction technique worked. I asked for them to lower the curtain so I could watch my baby being born and he agreed to lower it once Bump was being pulled out, but it was too late he was already out! They lowered the curtain quickly and there he was - all tiny and squirming in the air above me! Most important of all he was breathing and looked fine!

I remember saying 'Oh my God' but otherwise I was in complete shock. It had been less than 15 minutes since we agreed to the c-section and at 10:53am he was here! They quickly showed me his beautiful screwed up little face, then took him to the side to be checked over. In the rush of it all, we'd unsurprisingly forgotten about the camera and getting pictures. Thankfully Robin had his phone so when Sandra had confirmed he was perfect healthy Robin took a few hasty shots of her measuring him.

As soon as I knew he was okay I burst into tears. The stress that had been building since 1am just came out and I was sobbing. I was still crying when Robin came over with him and put my baby boy in my arms. He looked beautiful and I couldn't get over how tiny he was! 6lb 8 oz (2.9kg) and 50.5cms long. His eyes were wide open and he was just staring at me.

Welcome to the world Charlie Zygmund Jung!

Some more pictures here: Day 1